Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	henry_n	king_n	sir_n	4,054	5	6.1775	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49445	Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow Esq; Lieutenant General of the Horse, Commander in Chief of the forces in Ireland, one of the Council of State, and a Member of the Parliament which began on November 3, 1640. In two volumes. Vol. 1.; Memoirs. Part 1.	Ludlow, Edmund, 1617?-1692.	1698 (1698)	Wing L3460_pt1; ESTC R1476	216,094	443

to prevent a greater Evil that was like to ensue upon the Refusal of them But Sir Henry Vane so truly stated the matter of Fact relating to the Treaty and so evidently discovered the Design and Deceit of the King's Answer that he made it clear to us that by it the Justice of our Cause was not asserted nor our Rights secured for the future concluding that if they should accept of these Terms without the Concurrence of the Army it would prove but a Feather in their Caps Notwithstanding which the corrupt Party in the House having bargain'd for their own and the Nation 's Liberty resolved to break through all Hazards and Inconveniences to make good their Contract and after twenty four hours Debate resolved by the Plurality of Votes That the King's Concessions were Ground for a future Settlement At which some of us expressing our Dissatisfaction desired that our Protestation might be entred but that being denied as against the Orders of the House I contented my self to declare publickly that being convinced that they had deserted the Common Cause and Interest of the Nation I could no longer join with them the rest of those who dissented also expressing themselves much to the same purpose The day following some of the principal Officers of the Army came to London with expectation that things would be brought to this issue and consulting with some Members of Parliament and others it was concluded after a full and free Debate that the Measures taken by the Parliament were contrary to the Trust reposed in them and tending to contract the Guilt of the Blood that had been shed upon themselves and the Nation that it was therefore the Duty of the Army to endeavour to put a stop to such Proceedings having engaged in the War not simply as Mercenaries but out of Judgment and Conscience being convinced that the Cause in which they were engaged was just and that the Good of the People was involved in it Being come to this Resolution three of the Members of the House and three of the Officers of the Army withdrew into a private Room to consider of the best means to attain the ends of our said Resolution where we agreed that the Army should be drawn up the next Morning and Guards placed in Westminster-Hall the Court of Requests and the Lobby that none might be permitted to pass into the House but such as had continued faithful to the Publick Interest To this end we went over the Names of all the Members one by one giving the truest Characters we could of their Inclinations wherein I presume we were not mistaken in many for the Parliament was fallen into such Factions and Divisions that any one who usually attended and observed the business of the House could after a Debate upon any Question easily number the Votes that would be on each side before the Question was put Commissary General Ireton went to Sir Thomas Fairfax and acquainted him with the necessity of this extraordinary way of proceeding having taken care to have the Army drawn up the next Morning by seven of the Clock Col. Pride commanded the Guard that attended at the Parliament-doors having a List of those Members who were to be excluded preventing them from entring into the House and securing some of the most suspected under a Guard provided for that end in which he was assisted by the Lord Grey of Grooby and others who knew the Members To justify these Proceedings the Army sent a Message to the House representing That whereas divers Members had been expelled the House upon account of the Violence done to the Parliament by the City of London and others in 1647. yet upon the Absence of many well-affected Members by reason of their Employments in the Army and elsewhere against the Enemy the said Persons were re-admitted without any Trial or Satisfaction in the things whereof they were accused whereby the Scots had been drawn to invade this Kingdom and the House prevented by the Intruders and their Accomplices from declaring against the Invaders who had made up the Number of ninety odd Votes to that purpose And whereas by the prevalency of the same corrupt Counsels Justice had been obstructed and a Settlement of Affairs hindred and lastly the King's Concessions declared to be a Ground for the Settlement of Peace notwithstanding the Insufficiency and Defects of them they therefore most humbly desired that all those Members who are innocent in these things would by a publick Declaration acquit themselves from any Guilt thereof or Concurrence therein and that those who shall not so acquit themselves may be excluded or suspended the House till they have given clear Satisfaction therein that those who have faithfully performed their Trust may proceed without interruption to the execution of Justice and to make speedy provision for an equal Succession of Representatives wherein Differences may be composed and all Men comfortably acquiesce as they for their parts thereby engaged and assured them they would The House wherein there was about six score was moved to send for those Members who were thus excluded by the Army which they did as I presume rather upon the account of Decency than from any desire they had that their Message should be obeyed and that it might clearly appear that this Interruption proceeded from the Army and not from any Advice of the Parliament to the end that what they should act separately might be esteemed to be only in order to prevent such Inconveniences as might otherwise fall upon the Nation if the whole Power should be left in the hands of an Army and that their Actions appearing to be founded upon this Necessity they might the better secure the Respect and Obedience of the People Upon such Considerations when the Serjeant returned and acquainted them that the excluded Members were detained by the Army the House proceeded in the business before them Lieutenant General Cromwell the Night after the Interruption of the House arrived from Scotland and lay at Whitehall where and at other Places he declared that he had not been acquainted with this Design yet since it was done he was glad of it and would endeavour to maintain it Major General Harrison being sent by the Army with a Party of Horse to bring the King from the Isle of Wight Col. Hammond who was entrusted with the Custody of him by the Parliament disputed to deliver him but finding that those about him inclined to comply he thought it not convenient to make any farther Opposition So that the King was conducted from the Island to Hurst-Castle and from thence to Windsor by Major General Harrison Being on his way he dined at Mr. Leviston's in Bagshot-Park who had provided a Horse for him to make his Escape but this Design also was discovered and prevented The King being at Windsor it was debated what should be done with him The Army were for bringing him to a Trial for levying War against the Parliament and People of

about threescore of the Commissioners set their Hands and Seals directing it to Col. Hacker Col. Hunks and Col. Phaier or either of them The Duke of Glocester and the Lady Elizabeth waited on the King the same day to take their leave of him An Extraordinary Ambassador from the United Provinces had his Audience in the Parliament his business was to intercede with them for the Life of the King and to preserve a fair Correspondence between England and the States The next day about eight in the Morning the King attended by a Guard was brought from St. James's through the Park to Whitehall where having drunk a Glass or two of red Wine and stayed about two hours in a private Room he was conducted to the Scaffold out of a Window of the Banqueting-house and having made a Speech and taken off his George he kneeled down at the Block and the Executioner persormed his Office The Body was ordered to be interred at Windsor The Duke of Lenox the Marquiss of Hertford the Earls of Southampton and Lindsey with some others having Leave from the Parliament attended it to the Grave A Report of the Proceedings of the High Court of Justice being made to the Parliament they declared That the Persons imployed in that important Service had discharged their Trust with Courage and Fidelity that the Parliament was well satisfied with the Account of their Proceedings ordering them to be engrossed and recorded amongst the Parliament-Rolls in order to transmit the Memory thereof to Posterity and resolved that the Commissioners of the Great Seal should issue a Certiorari to their Clerk to record those Proceedings in the Chancery and that the same should be sent to the other Courts at Westminster and to the Custos Rotulorum of each County Judg Jenkins Sir John Stowel and divers other Persons who were Prisoners and had carried themselves very insolently now finding the Parliament to be in earnest began to come to a better Temper Colonel Middleton who was also a Prisoner at Newcastle upon Parole ran away to Scotland and being required to return answered That his Life was dearer to him than his Honour Sir Marmaduke Langdale made his escape also and Sir Lewis Dives through a House of Office in Whitehall The Lord Capel got out of the Tower but being discovered by a Waterman as he crossed the Thames he was seized in a House at Lambeth Duke Hamilton also escaped out of Windsor-Castle and came to Southwark where knocking at the Door of an Inn he was seized by a Souldier who knew him and was passing by that way whereupon he was committed to the Tower The House of Lords becoming now the Subject of the Consideration and Debate of the Parliament Lieutenant General Cromwell appeared for them having already had a close Correspondence with many of them and it may be presuming he might have farther use of them in those Designs he had resolved to carry on but they not meeting in their House at the time to which they had adjourned much facilitated their Removal so that the Question being put Whether the House of Commons should take Advice of the House of Lords in the Exercise of the Legislative Power it was carried in the Negative and thereupon resolved That the House of Peers was useless and dangerous and ought to be abolished and an Act was soon after passed to that effect After this they proceeded to declare That the Office of a King in this Nation is unnecessary burdensome and dangerous to the Liberty Safety and publick Interest of the People and therefore ought to be abolioshed and that they will settle the Government of the Nation in the way of a Commonwealth To this end they ordered a Declaration to be published whereby it was declared Treason for any Person to endeavour to promote Charles Stuart to be King of England or any other single Person to be chief Governour thereof They also ordered the Great Seal and other Seals which had the Image of the late King on them to be defaced and appointed new ones to be made with the Stamp of the House of Commons on one side accompanied with this Inscription The Great Seal of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England On the other side was engraven the Cross and the Harp being the Arms of England and Ireland with this Inscription God with us Ordering all Writs formerly running in the King's Name to be issued out in the Name of the Keepers of the Liberty of England A High Court of Justice was constituted by Act of Parliament for the trying of Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland the Lord Goring the Lord Capel and Sir John Owen Duke Hamilton pleaded that he entred into England as an Enemy being of another Nation and born before the Act of Union and consequently not to be tried by the Laws of this besides he had surrendred himself upon Conditions The rest of the Lords pleaded Articles also and so did Sir John Owen But that Allegation appeared to be of no weight by the Testimony of the General in relation to the Lords Goring and Capel and by the Evidence of Col. Wayte touching Duke Hamilton the like being affirmed by other Witnesses against the Earl of Holland and Sir John Owen for if there had been any Promise made to any of them either implicitely or by word of Mouth it could only extend to protect them from the Military not the Civil Sword And as to the Plea for Duke Hamilton that he was born before the two Nations were united it was answered that they tried him not as Duke Hamilton but as Earl of Cambridg in which Capacity he had sate as a Peer of England and therefore a Subject thereof So that upon full Evidence they were all sentenced by the Court to have their Heads struck off for High Treason in levying War against the Parliament of England Earnest Solicitations and Petitions were made for them to the Parliament but they thought not fit to reprieve the Duke the Earl of Holland or the Lord Capel Touching the Lord Goring the House was equally divided and the Speaker having upon such Occasions the determining Voice gave it for his Reprieve Commissary General Ireton observing no Motion consider that he was a Commoner and therefore more properly to have been tried in another way by a Jury whereupon the House reprieved him also The other three were executed a day or two after in the New Palace-Yard before Westminster-Hall in pursuance of a Warrant signed by the Court to that purpose the Parliament refusing to hearken to the Earl of Denbigh who proposed on the behalf of Duke Hamilton his Brother-in-law to give them a Blank signed by the said Duke to answer faithfully to such Questions as should be there inserted The Parliament having resolved to constitute a Council of State the better to carry on the executive part of the Government authorized five of their Members to agree upon the Number and Persons of such as they

hundred Men on shore commanded by Captain Morrice to attack a Quarter of the Enemies that lay by the Harbour which they executed Successfully by taking the Fort and about forty Prisoners with four Pieces of Cannon which they nailed up and returned on board again At this time the Virginia Fleet arriving at the Barbadoes it was thought fit to send a third Summons to the Lord Willoughby but finding that neither this nor the Declaration sent to them by the Commissioners of Parliament to the same purpose produced any effect Sir George Ayscue landed seven hundred Men from his own and the Virginia Fleet giving the Command of them to the same Captain Morrice who fell upon thirteen hundred of the Enemies Foot and three Troops of their Horse and beat them from their Works killing many of their Men and taking about a hundred Prisoners with all their Guns The Loss on our side was inconsiderable few of ours being killed upon the place and not above thirty wounded Yet these Successes were not sufficient to accomplish the Work there being above five thousand Horse and Foot in the Island and our Virginia Fleet preparing to depart for want of Provisions In this conjuncture Colonel Muddiford who commanded a Regiment in the Island by the means of a Friend that he had in our Fleet made his Terms and declared for the Parliament Many of his Friends following his Example did the like and in conjunction with him encamped under the protection of our Fleet. Upon this the most part of the Island were inclined to join us but the Lord Willoughby prevented them by placing Guards on all the Avenues to our Camp and designed to charge our Men with his Body of Horse wherein he was much superior to them had not a Cannon-Ball that was fired at random beat open the door of a Room where he and his Council of War were sitting which taking off the Head of the Sentinel who was placed at the door so alarmed them all that he changed his design and retreated to a Place two Miles distant from the Harbour Our Party consisting of two thousand Foot and one hundred Horse advancing towards him he desired to treat which being accepted Colonel Muddiford Colonel Collyton Mr. Searl and Captain Pack were appointed Commissioners by Sir George Ayscue and by the Lord Willoughby Sir Richard Pierce Mr. Charles Pym Colonel Ellis and Major Byham By these it was concluded that the Islands of Barbadoes Mevis Antego and St. Christophers should be surrendered to the Parliament of England That the Lord Willoughby Colonel Walrond and some others should be restored to their Estates and that the Inhabitants of the said Isles should be maintained in the quiet enjoyment of what they possessed on condition to do nothing to the prejudice of the Commonwealth This News being brought to Virginia they submitted also where one Mr. George Ludlow a Relation of mine served the Parliament in the like manner as Col. Muddiford had done at the Barbadoes The Parliament of England being desirous after all these Successes to convince even their Enemies that their principal design was to procure the happiness and prosperity of all that were under their Government sent Commissioners to Scotland to treat concerning an Union of that Nation with England in one Common-wealth directing them to take care till that could be effected that Obedience should be given to the Authority of the Parliament of the Common wealth of England The Commissioners appointed to this end on the part of the Parliament were Sir Henry Vane the Chief Justice St. Johns Mr. Fenwick Major Salloway Major General Lambert Colonel Titchborn Major General Dean and Colonel Monk This Proposition of Union was chearfully accepted by the most iudicious amongst the Scots who well understood how great a condescension it was in the Parliament of England to permit a People they had conquered to have a part in the Legislative Power The States-General being highly displeased with the late Act of Navigation passed by the Parliament which they accounted to be a great obstruction to their Trade resolved to leave no means unattempted to procure it to be repealed To this end they sent three Ambassadors to England who pretending a desire to finish the Treaty begun formerly between the Two States requested that things might be as they were at the time of our Ambassador's departure from Holland designing thereby that the Act lately passed for the Encouragement of our Seamen should be suspended and all such Merchandizes restored as had been seized from the Dutch by virtue of the said Act. The Parliament refusing to consent to this Proposal the States-General gave Orders for the equipping a considerable Fleet consisting of about a hundred Ships of War giving notice to the Parliament by their Ambassadors of these Preparations and assuring them that they were not design'd to offend the English Nation with whom they desired to maintain a friendly Correspondence and that they were provided to no other end than to protect their own Subjects in their Trade and Navigation But the Parliament being unwilling to rely upon the Promises of those who by their past and present Actions had manifested little Friendship to us resolved to make what Preparations they could to defend themselves This Alarm awakened us to a diligent performance of our duty in Ireland fearing that the Hollanders might transport some foreign Forces by their Fleet to the Assistance of the Irish who were not only still numerous in the Field but had also divers Places of Strength to retreat to Our Suspicions were farther increased by the Advices we received of a Treaty on foot between the Duke of Lorain and Theobald Viscount Taff with other Irish to bring the Forces of that Duke into Ireland against us in order to extirpate all Hereticks out of that Nation to re-establish the Romish Religion in all Parts of it and to restore the Irish to their Possessions all which being performed he should deliver up the Authority to the King of Great Britain and assist him against his Rebellious Subjects in England That all Ireland should be ingaged for his Re-imbursement That Galway Limerick Athenree Athlone Waterford and the Fort of Duncannon should be put into his hands as Cautionary Places with other things of the same nature The Report of this Agreement being spread amongst the Irish encouraged them to make all possible Opposition against us in expectation of the promised Succours The Commissioners of the Parliament on the other hand laboured with all diligence to dispose their Affairs in the best manner they could for the Publick Service in order to which they sent to the several Commanders of our Army to excite them to the discharge of their Duty making provision of Arms Ammunition Clothes Tents and all things necessary to the carrying on the War in the ensuing Spring A general Meeting of Officers was also appointed to be held at Kilkenay to consult about the best Method of employing our Arms against the